Well it is finally here! The long awaited debut of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers aka. Captain Marvel! A lot have fans have been anxiously waiting for this movie ever since the announcement by Marvel at Comic Con that Brie Larson would be taking on the role as one of the most powerful characters to ever grace the pages of Marvel Comics as well as the silver screen in the MCU. Not only did we get the introduction of Captain Marvel, we finally got our first cinematic introduction to the Skrull race! The Skrulls of course are one of the most famous alien races to ever debut in Marvel Comics and of course their involvement in the Kree v. Skull War that is a very famous storyline in the Marvel Comics has all come to movie screens. So without further ado, let’s dive into the Highs and Lows of Captain Marvel. As always this article will have SPOILERS so if you haven’t seen it, turn away now!

High: Brie Larson

One of the definite highlights of the movie was Brie Larson’s performance as Carol Danvers aka Vers aka Captain Marvel. Yes she had three names by the end of the movie. Larson definitely held her own through out the movie and made the character her own as well as sticking to the Captain Marvel that we have known in the comics books. A lot of people need to remember that this is her first outing and not every character has started out as a fan favorite, but with more character development they have later have become a character many love *cough*  Thor. We definitely now know how powerful Captain Marvel is and Brie Larson is going to take this character and take it to new heights.

Low: Slow Start

While most of us understand an origin movie is not always going to come out to a blazing fast start. One of the complaints from a lot of people is how slow the first act of the movie is. Captain Marvel does start out a bit slow at first but it definitely picks up speed. After the movie you kind of understand why it had to start out slow laying the ground work for the future, but it still doesn’t completely remove the taste out of your mouth about how it started.

High: Character Relationships

One of the best parts of the movie were the relationships between the characters. Some of the standout ones being Captain Marvel and Nick Fury, Carol Danvers, Maria Rameau and her daughter Monica, and even Nick Fury’s relationship with Goose. Some of the characters have built these relationships over the years and it came across on the screen. Nick Fury’s and Captain Marvel’s relationship was probably the one that stands out the most. The funny banter and almost father/daughter relationship that they build, with Fury showing her the way through the movie. You definitely left the movie feeling comfortable with the characters moving forward in the franchise.

Low: Cheesy Dialogue

One of the things that was really distracting from the movie was the sometimes really awful writing of the character lines in the movie. The biggest one seemed to be Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel who more than a few times would say something that just seemed extremely forced and unnatural. There wasn’t a sense of natural talking with her character at times and you could definitely sense it. Almost like in the commercials for the movie when she says the line “I’m not going to fight your war, I’m gonna end it.” Thankfully that line didn’t make the cut of the movie but that is a prime example of the forced senes of lines that were in the movie.

High: The 90’s Theme

One of the best things to come from the movie was the overall theme of the 90’s. We all know that the movie takes place in 1995 and boy did they make sure you knew it. If you were a child of the 90’s, then you were taken on a memory trip back to things you haven’t seen, or heard, in a long time. From flannel clothes, to Blockbuster, to the music like No Doubt, TLC, and Nirvana, the whole entire movie is a giant flashback to the time period and it couldn’t have been any cooler. It was definitely one of the best parts of the movie and if you watch it more than once, your sure to catch new references.

Low: Overhyped Underused Characters

The movie made a lot of waves when we found out that the film would take place in the past. With this type of movie going back in time to a point where in the MCU timeline, it is technically the 2nd oldest timelined movie next to Captain America: The First Avenger. Of course with that we get to revisit and see characters who appeared in other Marvel movies who we either enjoyed, or didn’t really get to see much of. Two of those characters were Agent Coulson played by Clark Gregg and Ronan the Accuser played by Lee Pace. Both seemed to have been made into a big deal that they would be in the movie, when really the only ended up being quick little cameos basically meaning not much. Both are characters we would love to see more of in the MCU movies, especially Ronan, and we thought we were getting that. Unfortunately that was not what came to be.

High: The Twists

One thing the movie definitely did not lack was the amount of twists that you either didn’t see coming or Marvel may have changed from the comics to make work for the movie. There was the twist of Annette Benning being Mar-Vell and an undercover Kree helping out the Skrulls. It was a huge twist that worked really well for the movie and left many, myself included shocked. Another was that Ben Mendelsohn’s character Talos wasn’t actually a bad guy, but instead a Skrull trying to save his family and his people. The fun twist was we finally know who “the last person I trusted, I lost an eye” line that Nick Fury said in Captain America: Winter Soldier was, as it was Goose the Flurken alien cat who scratched Fury’s eye causing him to lose it.

High/Low: The Skrulls

For the first time in the Highs and Lows series we have something that we couldn’t decide on. That was whether or not we liked the direction the Skrulls were portrayed. The long awaited alien race that has been apart of Marvel since their first appearance in 1963, made their cinema debut and in the movie they were absolutely fantastic! The transformation aspect and them being able to essentially become someone is amazing and is a great addition to the MCU making you question a lot about if someone is a Skrull. The thing that we don’t really like too much, is now that we have met the alien race, our first impression of them is that they are not bad aliens and the Kree are the bad guys. If you know anything about the comics, the Skrulls aren’t typically portrayed as good guys. While Talos did state that the Skrulls are scattered across the universe which means not all of them are going to be nice and sympathetic aliens we met. One thing that is interesting is because of their good guy alien portrayal, it kind of steers them away from the famous comic book series, Secret Invasion, where the Skrulls infiltrate Earth. Also there is also the Super Skrull, most famously a villain of the Fantastic 4, who we know are on their way eventually. All of this is still possible, but our first impression of the Skrulls will always be that they are not a bad alien race.

Conclusion

While the movie isn’t the best Marvel movie of all time, it isn’t a bad one by any means. It is definitely an enjoyable movie that is setting up a lot of groundwork for the future of the MCU. The mix of humor and series undertones flow very well and don’t come out stale like Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2 did. Brie Larson was great as Captain Marvel and is only going to get better in time through out the MCU movies. It will be exciting to see what comes from her character being apart of Avengers: End Game as we now know she will be there as the end credits scene shows us that she is in Avengers Compound in New York where she asks “Where’s Fury?”. More than likely she is the character many have been saying was digitally removed from the Avengers: End Game commercials. Either way it will be exciting having her in the mix.

So what do you think movie lovers? Did you enjoy Captain Marvel, or were you disappointed? Let us know what you think in the comments below!